Dolly Parton book scheme 'a success' in North Lincolnshire

Dolly Parton, pictured reading a book for CBeebies Bedtime Stories, brought the scheme to the UK in 2007

US country singer Dolly Parton has praised organisers of a reading scheme she initiated in North Lincolnshire as "forward thinking folks".

The Imagination Library sends children under the age of five a free book to read each month.

Ms Parton first launched the project in Rotherham in 2007 after pioneering it in the US, motivated by her dad's inability to read.

The North Lincolnshire version has so far seen 813,000 books given out.

The scheme set up in North Lincolnshire in 2013 has seen more than 22,500 children take part and was the only council-funded version of the project in the UK, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A cake-cutting ceremony was held to celebrate the success of the Imagination Library in North Lincolnshire

'Going strong in 100 years'

The Dollywood Foundation are to host a celebration event marking the tenth anniversary of North Lincolnshire's imagination library on 20 January 2023, at Normanby Hall.

In a report marking the upcoming anniversary Ms Parton said: "The only thing more important than what we do for our children today is what we will do for them tomorrow.

"We are so fortunate to have the forward thinking folks at North Lincolnshire paving the way to teach us all how to best sustain our efforts for decades to come."

She added: "I bet the Children's Literacy Trust will be going strong 100 years from now, so I am making my plans to celebrate that milestone."

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Councillor Julie Reed, portfolio holder for children and families, said the amount of good the scheme does for children and communities was "phenomenal."

The project has been the subject of PhD study by researchers from the University of Swansea who found the Imagination Library "strengthened parent-child bonds through frequent reading" and "helped parents learn more about their child".

The same scheme, which also ran in Doncaster in South Yorkshire, came to an end in July 2019 following a review of library services.